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Another pre-season game this afternoon in Germany when the Rams play Kaiserlauten, missing from the squad are Blackman [thank God], Vydra, Thorne and Lowe, the game is available on a FREE stream via RamsTV which can be accessed via www.dcfc.co.uk

Another pre-season game this afternoon in Germany when the Rams play Kaiserslauten, missing from the squad are Blackman [thank God], Vydra, Thorne and Lowe, the game is available on a FREE stream via RamsTV which can be accessed via www.dcfc.co.uk

Kaiserslauten 0-2 Rams

Curtis Davies didn't travel to Germany due to 'personal reasons' so Keyhole and Pearce were the central defenders in a back 4, I do hope that GR is not thinking that they are his best pairing as they are an accident waiting to happen. The goals were scored by the Worm Worrier and Johnson but if the WW Weimann and Russell had worn their shooting boots we should have had at least 5.

Butterscotch's passing still gives reason for concern as does Johnson's so this is something for GR to address before the season proper gets under way, personally I would prefer Bryson to the aforementioned Butterscotch as he puts far more effort into his game and his surging forward runs can give us more scoring opportunities. Huddlestone had another good game although he was caught in possession on a couple of occasions.

Next up is the Tuesday night game against Northampton Town and I'm presuming we will see one or two of the fringe players get more game time, once again the game will be streamed FREE on www.dcfc.co.uk

A deserved win for the Cobblers, if the Rams forwards don't put away their chances then they don't deserve to win.

Pro - Mitchell, Bennett Huddlestone[Sub] and Bryson.

Con - Baird, Pearce, Davies, Olsson, Butterfield and Martin[Sub].

So-So - Anya, Nugent, Hanson and Russell[Sub].

That was not a display to inspire the fans, some of the 'performances' were way below the standard expected and clearly arses need to be kicked before the game against Hoffenheim on Saturday, I realise that pre-season games are mainly to get players up to match fitness but the fact that some cannot even pass the ball to one of their own team-mates and others seemed disinterested in the proceedings doesn't augur well for the coming season.

Today we welcome Bundeslige side Hoffenheim to Pride Park, it will be interesting to see which eleven start for the Rams especially the back four, Shackell is still occupying one of the couches in the treatment room so I expect to see Rowett select..........

Rowett persevered with Butterscotch in midfield and he displayed his ability to find an opponent with a slick pass, once again chances went begging up front and for most of the first half we struggled to retain possession for any length of time, Bryson, Vydra, Nugent and Bennett replaced the hapless Martin along with Weimann, Butterfield and Russell and adopted a more combative attitude, after some indecision in midfield/defence Hoffenheim went ahead but after similar indecision by our opponents Vydra scored a deserved equaliser. The Rams' fans joy didn't last long when Hoffenheim once more took the lead after more poor defensive play, these failings do nothing to make me think that we will be amongst the early front-runners, a new striker is needed to play alongside Nugent and Martin should be made to train with the U/23s until he loses his mardy attitude and books his ideas up.

The Rams travel to the North-East for tonight's game against Blunderland, Bent, Thorne, Shackell and Blackman are all definite absentees whilst Vydra has been back in full training and should be part of the matchday squad.

Hopefully Rowett will leave Butterscotch and the Worm Worrier on the bench and start with Bryson and Nugent, Keyhole has been reappointed as captain and is therefore expected to retain his place in the back four.

Fingers and legs crossed we can come away with 3 points, I'm going for ..............

The Rams travel to the North-East for tonight's game against Blunderland, Bent, Thorne, Shackell and Blackman are all definite absentees whilst Vydra has been back in full training and should be part of the matchday squad.

Hopefully Rowett will leave Butterscotch and the Worm Worrier on the bench and start with Bryson and Nugent, Keyhole has been reappointed as captain and is therefore expected to retain his place in the back four.

Fingers and legs crossed we can come away with 3 points, I'm going for ..............

Blunderland 1-3 Rams

.........

Blunderland 1-1 Rams

I don't have SKY so I listened to the commentary on Radio Derby, it sounded like Blunderland were dominant for at least 70% of the game but we came out of it with a share of the points so I suppose we should be happy.

Tonight its the first game in the EFL League Cup thingy against Grimsby who we also played last season, apparently Huddlestone, Johnson, Bryson and Russell all picked up knocks against Blunderland so there will be some changes to the starting XI, I expect Nugent, Vydra and Bennett to feature.

Tonight its the first game in the EFL League Cup thingy against Grimsby who we also played last season, apparently Huddlestone, Johnson, Bryson and Russell all picked up knocks against Blunderland so there will be some changes to the starting XI, I expect Nugent, Vydra and Bennett to feature.

I'm going for..........

Grimsby 1-2 Rams

.............fingers and legs crossed.

Well that was a waste of time, 1-0 [Keyhole] up after 5 minutes and abandoned after 19 minutes, also Hanson suffered a calf injury in the 'warm' down.

I feel sorry for the fans who travelled in atrocious weather and saw less than 20 minutes of football and then had to travel home in the pouring rain.

The Dogheads visit Pride Park tomorrow and will prove to be tough opposition in my opinion, we're not firing on all cylinders up front and our defence looks to still be prone to gaffs, I'm hoping Rowett plays Nugent in preference to the Worm Worrier as up to now I feel he offers more in the way of effort and likelihood of scoring, if Nugent plays I'm going for ..............